The break was almost over, and I barely had time to shake off the unease gnawing at me. As usual, the staff began collecting our phones—a rule that felt more like imprisonment than discipline.

Handing over my phone, a chill ran down my spine. That strange message from earlier... could it be linked to last night’s stunt? The possibilities swirled—each more disturbing than the last. I tried to focus as lessons resumed, but the thought clung to me like a shadow, a constant reminder of the dangerous line I was walking.

With each passing period, the tension built. The words "Hello, World" echoed in my mind, like a glitch in reality that I couldn’t unsee. White text. Black screen. The message twisted and warped in my memory, like it carried some dark truth I wasn’t ready to face. The more I tried to ignore it, the sharper it became, clawing at my focus until everything else blurred. And then, the words shifted, warping into a twisted nightmare.

The air around me turned heavy, suffocating. A dark dungeon materialized in my mind—cold, endless, cruel. I watched helplessly as shadowy figures dragged Ayaan away, their voices cold and lifeless as they muttered the same two words: “Hello, World.”

My heart pounded. Each beat echoed in the stone walls, amplifying the terror. Aaravi’s head rolled toward my feet, her lifeless eyes staring up at me, empty, accusing. A scream tore from my throat, raw and desperate, reverberating through the dark, my soul fracturing with it.

“AYAAAANNN! AARAVIIII!!!” I screamed, my voice cracking with terror. My chest tightened, panic clawing at my throat as I cried out their names. But the darkness pressed in, growing heavier, until all I could see was deep, blood-red. It zoomed in, like it had a pulse of its own, suffocating me... and then, suddenly, it shattered

Reality hit me like a sledgehammer.

“Vyom! Vyom, wake up! VYOM!!” The voice pierced through the haze, loud and urgent, pulling me back. I gasped, chest heaving as if I’d just sprinted a mile. My body was drenched in sweat. My hand shot out, grasping at nothing. Slowly, my vision came into focus—yellow walls, blackboard, the dull hum of the classroom coming back into view. Mrs. Anjali hovered over me, her face etched with concern.

"It’s not like you to fall asleep during computer class, Vyom. Are you okay? Why were you shouting?" Her questions came fast, laced with worry. "You should see the nurse—you’re sweating."

The remnants of the nightmare clung to me, thick like fog. "I’m fine, Mrs. Anjali," I muttered, struggling to steady my breath. "Just a bad dream."

Her frown deepened. "If you’re sure..."

As she walked back, I caught Aaravi’s eyes, her gaze locked on me. Concern tugged at her expression, but I couldn’t shake the knot in my stomach.I’d shouted her name in my nightmare—and now her worry made my face flush red. I quickly looked away, trying to bury the embarrassment. Just what I needed: everyone's eyes on my breakdown.

Most of the class didn’t care. A few heads had turned when I yelled, but for the most part, I was invisible again. Ayaan, though—his gaze lingered. Silent. Unreadable. That made me even more uneasy. Aaravi’s worry I could handle, but Ayaan’s silence... that was dangerous.

The classroom faded as I replayed the nightmare in my mind, each piece of it twisting tighter around my thoughts. It wasn’t the first time I had hacked into shady places. Using onion routing to dive into the depths of the dark web—where good and evil were shadows of the same shape—was my game.

Whenever I found these dark corners, I scanned for vulnerabilities, my fingers itching to exploit weaknesses.Remote Code Execution, injections—I had cracked them all before.I’d even reported crime rings to the authorities, leaving snarky, cryptic messages behind. It always gave me a rush, the feeling of being untouchable, ahead of the game.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

But this time? This felt different. The message had found me. How? I always used proxies. Could it be connected to one of my hacks, or was it something darker? A cold wave of dread spread through me. Why did my friends have to die in my nightmare? This was all in my head... right?

When the final bell rang, I rushed to grab my phone. The moment it was in my hand, my stomach dropped. "You’ve got a ton of messages, kid. Next time, put it on silent—total headache."

My blood turned to ice.

A thousand notifications. All from one contact. Each message had the same subject: "Hello, World."

My hands shook as I opened the first one. Random sequences of numbers filled the screen, but I knew there was something hidden in the code.

Ayaan’s voice pulled me back. “Vyom! You good?”

I shoved the phone into my pocket, trying to stay calm. "Yeah, I’m fine. Just... notifications."

But before I could relax, Aaravi stormed up to us, voice sharp as a knife. "What the hell is going on with you, Vyom? Spill it!"

Before I could respond, Ayaan cut in, his voice uncharacteristically loud. "Aaravi, leave it. Go home."

Her eyes widened. "What’s with you? Since when do you tell me what to do?"

Ayaan’s voice grew more intense. "I said, GO HOME."

Both of us froze. Ayaan had never snapped like that before. Aaravi huffed in frustration, but finally, she walked away, clearly upset.

Ayaan turned back to me, his eyes softer now. "Whatever this is, Vyom—you don’t have to handle it alone."

His words gave me a fleeting sense of comfort. But deep down, I knew something terrible was coming.

“Anyway, it’s late. I need to head home and finish some work,” I said, waving at Ayaan as I turned to leave. “Bye.”

The sky had darkened, heavy with clouds that looked ready to burst. Usually, Aaravi, Ayaan and I would walk home together, talking about anything but school. But not today. Today, there was a gap between us, one I wasn’t ready to address. The air felt thick, electric, like something was about to break.

I hurried down the street, eyes flicking up to the ominous clouds above. It was as if the weather mirrored the storm brewing inside me. Every gust of wind seemed to whisper, urging me to move faster. I wanted to be home, alone, away from everything. From Ayaan. From Aaravi. From the nightmare that was slowly unraveling.

At home, I locked my door, shutting out the world. The air in my room felt cooler, sharper—like stepping into a different reality. I threw my bag on the floor and opened my laptop, the dim light of the screen casting long shadows across the walls. There was no turning back now. I had to know.

For hours, I dove deep into research, the glow of the screen reflecting in my eyes as numbers and sequences blurred together. The silence was suffocating, broken only by the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance. My fingers danced across the keyboard, faster, more frantic. I was chasing something dangerous, and I could feel it getting closer.

By the time the clock struck 9 PM, my pulse quickened. I’d cracked it. The sequences—familiar yet twisted—came together in a way that made sense. An old encryption method. Almost ancient, by today’s standards.

“DH encryption... Base 64...” I muttered to myself, piecing it all together.

Though Diffie-Hellman and Base64 encoding were different, tech had evolved, allowing combinations that made these sequences possible. But this? This wasn’t just a trick. It was deliberate, precise—a message.

As the final pieces clicked into place, the decrypted message stared back at me.

“Your friends are going to DIE.”

My breath caught in my throat. The room felt colder, the silence suddenly deafening Reality slammed into me with the force of a freight train. This wasn’t a game. This was real.

My mind raced, the walls closing in around me. They couldn’t have traced me, could they? I always covered my tracks. Proxies, encryption—no one could find me. But... killing my friends? That was impossible.

Ayaan’s father had top-level security, men who watched his every move.Scouts at the school, surveillance systems, encrypted everything. No one could get through.

And Aaravi? No one would dare touch her. Not with who her father is.

Right?

But the message stared back at me, taunting, challenging everything I thought I knew. The words were seared into my mind, burning like an open wound.

If this was true... if someone was threatening them... then it was my fault. I dragged them into this.

My heart pounded in my chest, the gravity of what I’d uncovered suffocating. I leaned back in my chair, the room spinning around me. Had I been too arrogant? Too reckless?

The storm outside finally broke. Rain hammered against the windows, matching the turmoil inside me. But all I could hear were those five words, echoing, gnawing at my sanity.

"Your friends are going to DIE."